Does anyone have experience of contesting a Will please - Posting here for Traffic

[Octopus45]

Sorry, dont want to say too much about this as it could be outing. I have already been in touch with our Solicitor.

Thanks

It is very hard to do, emotionally o tough and time consuming. Solicitors fees are very high, so unless it is a significant amount it could all be eaten up.

Only grounds would be unsound mind, manipulation or maybe financial dependence.

Much better to feel aggrieved but then move on with your life.

It’s an incredibly tricky, and often expensive thing to do.

and without any details no-one can say if you’re in a good position or not.

Pretty much as the previous poster said - it’s hard to do, expensive and tough emotionally. There’s only limited reasons you can challenge a will - just being a direct relative of someone isn’t sufficient unless you are financially dependant on them. You could allege that the person didn’t have capacity to make the will, but it’s hard to prove especially if a professional drew up the will for them (as we do check!).

i used to tell people it would cost at least £10k to challenge a will, and usually a lot more if it goes to court.

emotion you are usually looking at suing family members, most of the time people will never ever forgive you for it. Be prepared for the fallout….

im sorry for your loss though, you’ve obviously lost someone close to you.

Yes. It cost me as much in legal fees as the amount of money originally awarded. Not my choice to contest it, it was a badly written mirror will and another recipient was very upset and hurt. I didn't care either way but got caught up in it which seemed terribly unfair.

Only that the person contesting it usually shouldn't be. But money can make people behave in disgusting ways.

I agree with what others have said, time consuming and costly - and there are few circumstances in which there is any hope of winning. I've never contested one, and never would, but have been on the other side. All that happened was that things were held up for over a year, everyone inherited less due to the cost to the estate and I imagine much of what the others inherited was eaten up by the costs of their own legal team.

Yes, including coercing elderly or vulnerable people to change wills. Which should be contested.

a relatives son is taking his mum to “redo her will”. I have a strong suspicion it’s being changed from everything divided equally between the three siblings, to something more in his favour.

if that is the case I would absolutely support them contesting it.

Someone in a school I once worked in contested the will of their parent, along with two siblings, knowing it would basically mean all of the estate went on legal costs.

for them that was better than the sibling that had bullied the parent into changing it getting anything.

Yes I have. It was extremely stressful and time consuming. We knew we had a good case but it cost over 50K in solicitor and barrister fees and took around 4 years to settle. Fortunately other side finally settled and court case got cancelled.
Solicitor will give you an idea of your chances. Keep anything at all that might help your case later on.

My mum contested my dad’s will. They were still married when he died (been married 35yrs) he’d left half the marital home to his mistress of 6 months and tried to leave her his pension as well. 2 years of the most horrific stress, £20k in legal fees. She lost, had to sell the house and hand over half the value to her. It was an absolute nightmare and I would never, ever try and do it myself.

I’m currently the executor of a will and it is being contested. The legal fees are crazy (I should have become a solicitor!) and they are unlikely to get the desired outcome, all they are doing is reducing the amount of money that will come their way at the moment.
The real cost in my case here is an emotional one, I’m losing members of my family over something I’ve literally been placed in the middle of and have no interest in (beyond carrying out my legal duties which of course I am doing).

my late Gm started proceedings against her brother...was obvious person had dementia whose will was contested....but advised to stop after a while as no chance of winning as a doctor had also signed the will as a witness etc. she could afford to continue the action as it wasnt about the money .

it feels like a rotten thing to do and also not do, because how do you know if the dead person has been manipulated or if there was just something behind the scenes you weren't privy too, plus it just feels like all sides are in it for the cash

There was an issue with contesting a will in my family. I sought legal advice and it was not worth it. It was my Mothers and I do believe she was coerced to changing but so hard to prove. I persuaded my siblings to not contest, I spoke to two solicitors and the will writing one. The other sibling has been completely cut off by the entire family. Two of my sisters fell out years ago, I did not take sides. The way the will was written with singling out this one sister it was obvious the influence of the recipient was there.

Thanks for all your advice, its what I expected to hear tbh. I feel the need at this stage to say that I am not a money grabbing person, but there is a huge back story. On balance tough, I think the sensible thing is leave it. Thanks again.